Ivan Cepeda concedes defeat in Colombia election, sealing right-wing win

Presidential candidate Ivan Cepeda accepted the victory of his opponent Abelardo de la Espriella.

Bogota, Colombia – Colombian presidential candidate Ivan Cepeda officially conceded defeat to hard-right populist Abelardo de la Espriella this morning following a tight run-off race.

While Cepeda had recognised the legitimacy of the preliminary results on Sunday, which gave de la Espriella a less than 1 percent lead, he said he would wait for the final, legally binding vote count, known as the scrutiny, before accepting defeat.

“I have decided to accept the result of this process, which indicates that Abelardo de la Espriella is the new president of the Republic,” said Cepeda in a livestreamed address on Wednesday.

While the voting verification process has not been fully completed, the National Registry, which oversees the elections, said yesterday that Sunday’s preliminary vote count was “99.997 percent” accurate after revision by judges at the municipal level. The vote must now be verified at the departmental and national levels.

There had been doubts among the Cepeda camp about the legitimacy of the vote process, with President Gustavo Petro – who was closely involved in the leftist candidate’s campaign – openly alleging fraud and foreign interference before and after the election.

“Electoral manipulation has been proven; I cannot say for certain that what has been uncovered guarantees an electoral victory [for Cepeda], but it is a fact,” wrote Petro on Monday.

For months, the president has warned about vulnerabilities in vote-counting software and clashed with the National Registry.

The president’s mistrust is largely based on the 2022 legislative election, in which his Historic Pact coalition recouped roughly half a million votes following the scrutinised vote count.

The recent memory of that vote led Petro and many Cepedistas (supporters of Cepeda) to believe that the roughly 250,000-vote margin between Cepeda and de la Espriella on Sunday could be overturned.

But the National Registry recorded high accuracy in both the preliminary count for March’s legislative election and the first round of the presidential race on May 31.

Petro also said that Washington’s interference in the election undermined the final result because President Donald Trump had endorsed Abelardo, breaking with tradition.

“President Donald Trump’s direct intervention nullifies the elections in Colombia,” wrote Petro in an X post yesterday.

But Cepeda’s concession appears to put distance between him and the president, who founded the Historic Pact movement.

“This suggests some sort of schism between Petro and Cepeda. While Petro’s term is sunsetting, Cepeda will likely become the leader of the opposition,” said Sergio Guzman, director of political risk consultancy Colombia Risk Analysis.

Cepeda, who is now expected to lead the Historic Pact party in the Senate, struck a conciliatory tone in his speech this morning: “I am doing this as an act of democratic responsibility, to contribute to harmony, peace and dialogue among Colombians.”